


Pre-Empting the Next Crisis

by sanctum_c



Series: Spring Awakening 2019 [3]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Fire, Introspection, Midgar (Compilation of FFVII), Post-Canon, Shinra Company, Shinra Electric Power Company Science Department, best way to stop any more Hojo weird science is to burn it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:49:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Cloud and Tifa return to the Shinra building as part of their clean-up of the dangerous things the Shinra Electric Company has left in its wake.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: Spring Awakening 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985497
Kudos: 4





	Pre-Empting the Next Crisis

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'Hope for the Future'

The dust had long settled in the Shinra building. Realistically no should even contemplate entering the place. If the blast from Diamond Weapon had not cracked its foundations, the pull of Meteor’s final moments should have sealed the building’s fate. But it stood, still towering over the remains of Midgar. The structure did not shake when Tifa crossed the threshold of the lobby, nor when Cloud followed, tensed and ready. Some desperate types might still cling to the building for shelter, people who did not heed Reeve’s call to flee the city on the verge of the end of the World.

But though they could be sure of no human peril, monsters remained a concern. One of the city’s worst kept secrets; for all the safety and sanctuary towns and cities allegedly provided, Midgar itself crawled with strange forms in the darker regions. And with no humans to keep them at bay, it was far too plausible they had spread here too. At least a Hell House would be obvious if encountered. Unless the things were more capable of mimicry than generally considered. Could it take the form of a partitioned office? A bathroom? A supply closet? The building itself?

Tifa glanced around with a shiver. The broken front of the building was so far away now, a few remaining shards of plate glass stabbing down like teeth. If it came down she would not be able to escape in time as the whole upper floor came crashing down towards them. What would be worse? The ceiling descending thanks to structural damage or resulting from the hunger of a strange Midgar denizen.

“Tifa?” A touch on her arm. “Are you okay?” Cloud sounded worried.

“Fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “Just…” Another glance towards the entrance. No movement, no change to the ceilings. “Never expected to come back here.”

Cloud nodded. “Me either.”

A first step on a new venture likely to require them both to travel the world. They were safe – so far as they knew – from Jenova’s machinations. But discussions between them had caught a possible oversight in their assumptions. Was all of Jenova accounted for? The decapitated corpse from Shinra’s lab fought and destroyed at various stages of their previous journey. The cells integrated inside Cloud remained but inert. Whatever Sephiroth had done with the head remained a question mark.

But what of Hojo? His experiments with her stretched across decades and his facilities remained scattered across the world. Did any samples of Jenova remain somewhere another might find them, might repeat or extend Hojo’s work? Too great a risk for everyone. Thus the clean-up. The process would in all likelihood eventually take them back to Nibelheim and the sealed interior of the Mako reactor. Who knew what traces existed in amongst the pipes and capsules installed there? At the same time it was no time for panic. Avalanche had fought for the world and won. No need to take that peace away unnecessarily.

A quiet investigation of the Shinra building would be enough for now.

The lifts were long since out of operation; no way out of climbing. But they short-cut a few flights of the emergency stairs and used the lobby to ascend up part way. There a reinforced door lasted scant seconds under a few blows from the Buster sword. A repeat of before, the long slog of stair climbing. No Aeris or Nanaki awaiting them at the top. Nor President Shinra, Turks, Rufus or Hojo.

Less pressing of a journey this time too. They could stop more regularly, sitting side-by-side on the bottom step of the next flight, quiet murmured conversations in the deathly stillness, sharing their water bottle between them. Even a few snacks to keep their energy up. Despite the precautions, Tifa’s muscles burned when the stairs terminated at last and they ventured into the interior.

More water stains here, scattered papers, what might have been blood. The building left more or less the same since those fateful days, none bothering to care to return – and few willing to make the same long climb Cloud and Tifa managed. The floors remained the same, faint familiarity from before not matching memory; more shadows, more time, different focuses. Despite the rapidity of Shinra’s fall, some forward planning occurred; emergency generators stood throughout the floor. Someone had intended to keep on going no matter what firing the Sister Ray did to the reactors.

Hojo’s lab still boasted the strong antiseptic smell as before. Jenova’s container was gone, the damaged section of floor covered with a metal plate bolted over the top. It took some time to find anything suspicious. More doors and cabinets to force, squinting at discoloured labels and strange substances in containers. Could they trust anything? Did any one of these contain a hidden sample of her? Too risky.

“We should probably burn it all.” The words stung, and Cloud flinched. But he nodded still and there were precious other alternatives. Some might argue the wholesale destruction was abhorrent. But nothing resulting from Hojo's hands could ever be anything but abhorrent in itself. The methods and routes he took to achieve his goals would taint any result.

Everything piled in the centre of the lab. Vials of chemicals, written notes and manuals, long-dead animal samples - neglected and forgotten as the empire fell. All piled high. They backed away, Cloud clutching a single fire Materia in one hand- and waited. Tifa shivered. Always more his trauma than her own; her personal hell occurring far from the town and awaited her in the future.

With a gentle touch she pried the Materia from his hand and shushed his protests. “You can wait outside. If you like.” He started to protest but nodded instead, his posture relaxing, his need to seem strong no matter what still not quite dissolved and Cloud’s honest reactions still lagging.

“Be careful.” He hurried from the lab.

No sense delaying this; Tifa focused, the fire spell on the tip of her tongue. A surge of flame erupted from her hands with the invocation, the mass of chemicals and paper catching fire. Enough; risky to stay any longer. Tifa dived for the door. Cloud glanced back at her, eyes widening for before he averted them from the flaming mass. They needed to get out of here.

Tifa took Cloud’s hand and together they ran for the stairs. Unlikely the whole building would burn, but Hojo’s dark science would be gone. A first step, but a vital one.


End file.
